Share a Printer from XP to Windows 7

One common problem I have run into with clients is trying to share a printer connected to a Windows XP machine with Windows 7. There are lots of people out there that have USB connected printers attached to one computer, usually a Windows XP machine.

If you get a new laptop running Windows 7, it makes sense to share that printer so that any computer can print to it. Unfortunately, trying to print to an shared printer on XP from Windows 7 is not as simple as it should be!

In this article I will walk you through the steps for XP to Windows 7 printer sharing. I am assuming your printer is directly attached to a Windows XP machine and you want to print from a Windows 7 machine.

Step 1: First make sure that the printer on the XP machine is shared. You can do this by right-clicking on the printer and choosing Sharing.

Click the Share this printer radio button and give your printer a share name. Make sure is less than 8 characters and does not contain any symbols.

Step 2: Make sure you can see the printer share from the network browsing area in Windows 7. You can do this by going to Control Panel and clicking on Network and Internet.

Then click on View network computers and devices under Network and Sharing Center.

At this point, you should see the name of your XP computer in the list of computers. Mine XP machine is called Aseem.

Double-click on the computer name and you should see your shared printer in the list. Here you can try to add the printer by right-clicking on it and choosing Connect.

If everything goes perfectly, Windows 7 should automatically add the printer to your set of printers. However, if you get a message like “Cannot connect to printer”, follow the next steps.

Step 3: Click on Start and then click on Devices and Printers. At the top, click on the Add a printer link.

Step 4: Next choose Add a local printer. Yes, that sounds counter-intuitive, but this is what you have to do!

Step 5: Next, click Create a new port and choose Local port from the list of options.

Step 6: Click Next and in the Port name box, type in the path to the shared printer. It should be something like \\Aseem\HPXP, where Aseem is the name of your XP machine and HPXP is the shared name of the printer.

Step 7: Now choose the printer driver from the list or download the latest driver for the printer and choose Have Disk. Note that if you printer is a little older, it’s a good idea to download the Windows 7 driver for the printer and click Have Disk.

That’s it! Windows 7 will load the driver and you’ll be able to print to the XP machine from Windows 7! The main things to remember are sharing the XP printer and downloading the latest driver for the printer on the Windows 7 machine.

If you have any problems sharing your printer on XP and printing from Windows 7, post a comment here and I will try to help! Enjoy!

Comments [282]

Sweet, this was really helpful. I've had a Windows 7 PC since Christmas now and was not able to print to my printer connected to my XP machine. I didn't realize you had to go through all these steps! Maybe I should update that one to Win 7 too!

it doesn't work with mine. first of all, when i go to the PC that has windows 7, and i go to " view network printer and devices " , i don't see my computer there( the one with the xp ). can you tell me how do i make it discoverable on my windows 7? please, give me the steps.

thanks a lot Aseem for ur organized answer but it didn't work for me. I still can't use the printer even when the printer name is shown in the network menu on Vista …but it says it cannot connect to the printer???

After at least a dozen attempts to network the printer attached to the XP machine with very complicated instructions from a dozen different sites it didn't work. Your simple instructions worked. I can't tell you how you have cured my frustration. IT WORKED !

I can't connect to an HP Deskjet 3740 on from my Win 7 laptop to my win XP desktop. Hard to believe, but even though I have the disk that came with it, none of the drivers work, and MS and HP both state there is no driver for this printer!! So I guess it's screw backward compatibility and the consumer at the same time. Small wonder I'm still running a box with Win2k. I hate to 'upgrade' when the upgrade is a downgrade. If anyone knows how to get around this, I'd appreciate a tip.

I have a slightly different problem. I *can* share my printer from XP to Windows 7 but cannot share it with a laptop running Vista. I get to the part where I see my XP PC, but when i double click on it, the Shared Printer does not display — instead I get a message "Windows cannot access (Printer Name). When I click on details, it says "Error Code 0x80070035 The network path was not found." Any ideas?

Hi. Very well written in plain English. My problem is that I can see my home router (which is connected to my XP PC) listed in the computer network and devices but I am unable to see my XP computer listed and therefore cannot select the shared printer (which is connected by USB to the XP PC). All very frustrating. Please help.

This also works for sharing a printer on a Win7 computer with an XP computer. I followed the instructions on the XP machine and I was able to connect. I did have to install the printer on XP first, connecting to a bogus port.

I have a Windows 7 laptop, but my problem is a bit different. I was able to install and access via my wireless router to an XP machine that has a HP3740 printer; however, everything I print comes out as a mirror image! This is regardless of application, and is not effected by the "mirror" setting on the preferences page. The HP tech I chatted with said HP would be working a fix, but did not have one now. I would be eternally greatful if anyone could help.

thanks for this wonderfull tips. the connect function from the shared printer doesnt work for me, i got the `cannot connect to printer error and on the add local printer on step 6, i got error too, the access is refused. can someone help me. took me all day to set the network and all is working fine for file sharing execpt this print share.

The instructions are correct for what I want to do. However one of the last steps says to down load the win 7 driver. That I have not found on Dell or microsoft. MS says use the vista driver which did not work.

I followed similar instructions when I first installed Win7 Pro on my computer in order to print to a printer on my wife's computer running Win XP over a wireless home network. I was able to print to the printer for several months. About 4 weeks ago, I started getting an error message "Windows cannot connect to printer. Access is denied."

I followed the above instructions and still cannot print (same error message). I have checked firewall settings, and everything else I can think of, but no success. Any other suggestions?

I have established internet on my desktop and my windows 7 laptop. I see the printer connected to my desktop listed as a device on my windows 7 laptop when open "devices and printers" But I don't see my XP computer listed when I go to "view network computers and devices" What do I need to do to get my XP computer to show up on windows 7?

Hi, I'm having a problem that a lot of people seem to have: I can't see the XP desktop in the "view network printers and devices" page. Can you please post a solution for people what that problem?

For the rest it looks like this would've fixed my problems.

And for the record: can I also scan with my printer/scanner if it's connected like you propose here? And if you can't, do you have a solution for that to? (I actually suppose you can, but you never know for sure with electronics. It's a bit like women: sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. And you never know why :D )

I've used this trick to connect several Vista PCs to XP shared printers over the years. I recently ran into a printer shared by a Windows XP SP2 PC and a Windows 7 32 bit PC that can't print to that share, even when using the above steps. The Windows 7 PC can see all the shares on the XP box, and can even open file shares. When I try to print, the print job goes to the XP box's print queue, but instead of printing, the queue just says "Error – printing."

I've tried several different drivers thinking it may be a driver compatibility issue. No joy. Both PCs are in the same workgroup. The printer is a Deskjet F340 All In One. I thought I had found the answer in this link:

I went through all steps trouble free and went into celebration mode and realized that the test pages were not printing. I now have 2 documents in queue that will not print and can't seem to get them to go. Any ideas???????????

Oh, forgot to add, the new box is 64 bit windows 7,, the "main" is a Pentium 4 on XP, and the drivers ARE in the windows 7 package (many times windows said it could not find drivers), once you get the darned thng to install via the "install local printer" trick using the network address. Bloody brilliant!

Many many many thanks! The advice was perfect! Just what i needed after alot of frustration trying to get helpful info on Microsoft support. Google search for share printer xp 7 got me here and I am so happy!

Using win 7 home on laptop, and Xp pro on ADMIN PC with printer installed and sharing. printer works on 5 other xp and Vista machines. Network printer works on win 7 laptop, but trying to setup shared printer through network didn't work, so I tried your fix, and got message "Unable to install printer. Print processor does not exist" Can anyone help me please. I've got several hours trying to resolve this problem.

Worked 1st time. Many Thanks. I have been trying to share a printer on my home network for weeks. It even works on a wireless connection via Router Access Point! My HP printer is connected to a W7 Desktop. Now, I have wireless access to the Printer from the XP laptop.

Important points to note: (Not made clear on other sites or networking books)
1. Make sure the computers are linked on a network.
2. On the Host Computer, follow the Sharing steps.
3. From the Client Computer, use the steps detailed above to connect to the printer.

hi recently i have buyed a printer hplaserjet m1522nf and i connected it to my local xp(32bit) machine then i have tried it on sharing on network with windows 7(64 bit) but i am unable to connect it. what i need to do. do i have to install the printer software in windows 7 machine also.please help me by posting the answer to this query.

Worked perfect for me…. however when I did the windows driver update my HP photosmart 4680 didn't show up in the list. I took an educated guess and chose the photosmart 7200 instead and lucky it worked like a charm.

Thanks for your very excellent article! I am able to see my XP computer from my windows 7 laptop, however I am not able to access it. When I double-click on it, it says windows cannot access the computer. However, the XP computer can access my laptop perfectly. Can I know what is the problem and how I can solve it? I needed to access the XP computer so that I can print my documents. Greatly appreciate it if you can help me with this!

I guess I'm once more the oddball but even though I'vre tried and tried I cannot connect my new desktop running windows 7 with my laptop running XP. My two printers are connected via USB to my Windows 7 Desktop, both work perfectly. Your instructions assume the printers are connected to the XP computer. I cannot seem to make the switch (XP to 7).

Can you help me ? When I had an XP desktop I had no trouble setting up my XP laptop to access my printers

Some comments indicate they worked on the problem for several hours. I've been frustarted for 6 weeks !

Great , easy instructions to follow, but when I go to the PC that has windows 7, and I go to ” view network printer and devices ” , I don’t see my PC there ( the one with the xp ). Can you tell me how do I make it discoverable on my windows 7?

It doesn’t work with mine. First of all, when I go to the PC that has windows 7, and I go to ” view network printer and devices ” , I don’t see my computer there( the one with the xp ). Can you tell me how do I make it discoverable on my windows 7? Please, give me the steps.

These instructions were good but I followed your instructions and still can't print. Is there something else I need to look at? At least now I can get something in the printer que but can't print anything.

I cannot see my shared printer in my windows 7 control panel. My router is working fine for wireless internet from the windows 7 laptop. What's up? And the name of my XP computer doesn’t show up on the network screed on the Windows 7 laptop

I’ll consider that the two machines are connected through a hub or a switch or router, and that your Windows XP is Service Pack 3. Have a memory stick in hand. Also: MAKE SURE THAT ALL YOUR NETWORK CONNECTIONS ARE THROUGH A NETWORK CABLE. IF YOU ARE USING WIRELESS, THE SETTINGS MIGHT NOT BE APPLIED. STRICTLY USE CABLE CONNECTION.

On the Windows XP machine

1. Insert your memory stick
2. Go to the Control Panel.
3. Open “Network Setup Wizard” icon
4. Click “Next”
5. Click “Next” again
6. Select “other” then click “next”
7. Select the first option the click “next”: This option has the following, “This computer connects to the internet directly or through a network hub. Other computers on my network also connect to the Internet directly or through a hub”.
8. On this window, just ignore everything (Computer name, etc) and click “next”
9. Here rename your Workgroup name as WORK NETWORK, then click “next”.
10. Here select the option with “Turn on file and printer sharing”, then click “next”
11. If it asks you, “Are you sure you want to turn on file and printer sharing?”, select “yes”
12. It will then show a summary of your settings, Click “next”
13. Your settings will then be applied giving you an option to save them on a disk. In the four options choose the first one (which is to save the network settings in a removable disk). Upon saving the setting, select the memory stick option.
14. After finishing, a file named “netsetup.exe” will be created and saved in your memory stick.

On the Windows 7 machine

1. Insert the same memory stick which you used to save the network settings from the Windows XP machine.
2. Click open the memory stick
3. Double on the file “netsetup.exe”
4. Select “yes” to permit the program to run
5. On the “Welcome to the Network Setup Wizard” screen select “yes”
6. Click “next”
7. Click “next” again
8. This will carry on in the same manner as it happened on the Windows XP machine.
9. If the machine prompts you to select the network location, choose the middle one, “Work network”
10. The machine will then prompt you to restart. In fact restart both machines
11. After restarting this machine, go to the control panel
12. Open “Network and sharing center”
13. On the bottom left corner select, “Homegroup”
14. Click on “Change advanced sharing settings”
15. On this Windows select the following:
a) Turn on network discovery
b) Turn on file and printer sharing
c) Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can read and write files in the public folders
d) Use 128-bit encryption to help protect file sharing connections (recommended)
e) Turn off password protected sharing
f) Allow windows to manage homegroup connections (recommended)

For space reasons, I wanted to keep the Brother 1440 printer on my XP machine and share it to the W7 laptop. But my W7 was refusing to find the driver for the printer when shared from the XP machine. I even connected the W7 directly to the printer as a true local device. In this case the W7 DID find and download the driver and installed the printer. But then, when I hooked the printer back up to the XP and tried to share from it out to the W7, the W7 forgot it had ever downloaded the driver.

Your fix solved all this, and fooled my W7 into thinking it was directly hooked up to the printer, thus tricking it into realizing it could find the driver. Thank you again.

I can view the XP printer on my Windows 7 Printers and Devices screen, but when I go to print a test page I nothing is sent to the printer. My printer is connected by USB to the XP Printer and I am using a wireless router to connect my documents & printer. I can view my shared documents, but I can not print from my Windows 7 printer. Any advice?

Thank you soooo much for this page and the cannot see other pcs in my network. Added memory to the xp machine then followed the directions from both of your pages. the whole thing was completed in an hr. Will surely share you wisdom with my friends and family. Thanks again.

Have printer Samsung scx-4100 on XP Professional. Tried to print from Win7 Professional – didn't work. Same printer connected to Vista Home accessible from Win 7 Prof (same). But between 7 and XP – no luck.

Your instructions seemed to work perfectly and I successfully printed a test page from the W7 computer using the wireless connection. However, when I try to actually send a print request to the printer I get an error message:

"Spooler SubSystem App has encountered a problem and needs to close"

The only way to clear it is to restart my XP PC (printer won't work from the PC until it's cleared).

Worked!!! One confusing part of your instructions, Step 7. Once I found the printer I have from the list, I wasn't sure if I should do Have disk, or Update, or Next. I tried Have disk first, and put in my disk, but I got other error messages, so that didn't work. So then I tried Next. And Voila, it worked.

Thanks for the help. The "Add local printer" was where I was going wrong, obviously. Then, when asked about overwriting the existing driver with the one from the disk, I said yes and pulled it directly from the disk. Whatever it was, it works now.

Not sure why the process is, like you said, so counter-intuitive? Things that make you go… hmmm.

Initially I was able to set up my Windows 7 laptop to print on my XP printer but I keep losing the ability to print. I try reconnecting the same way each time and creating or using the previously working port and cannot get it to connect any longer.

I followed all the steps, and I got to see the printer in my windows 7, but when I try to print I get a message " enable bidirectional communication" setting in the printer properties dialog. I went to the printer properties on my XP and under the Ports tab I had the option for enable bidierctional support and that one is checked already. I went to the printer properties on the win 7 and I checked the box for enable the bidirectional support. No success. I can't find the option for enable bidirectional communciation. Please help!

I have a printer connected to my windows 7 machine and I am trying to print to the printer from my laptop and other desktop, each of which are running XP. My network is configured for sharing and I can share docs among all computers on network. However, when I try and add the printer to the XP machines it says,

"The server for the dell v505 xps printer does not have the correct driver installed."

I tried downloading a different driver to my XP machines, but that does not work.

That's some great advice. I've been in I.T. for a decade and connecting my Win7 laptop to my parents' printer on their XP desktop wasn't working through any regular method.

Like you said, selecting "local printer" when you know it's a printer on a networked system is indeed counter-intuitive. But it did the trick! My mistake for just trusting Win7's default settings. Cheers!

This was extremely helpful. Except, I was unable to "see" the computer on the network. What I did, instead, was add the check mark (in the printer settings) to "List printer in directory" on the host machine. So, while I was still unable to see the computer itself on the network, the process of adding the printer could find it because it was "listed in the directory."

Thanks for the wonderful help! I wouldn't have thought of the other possibility without this initial problem solving.

The instructions worked first time, brilliant! I like to preview my work before printing, however, I am unable to do so on my Win7 machine. The feature is indicated on the properties page, but I am unable to 'click' on it.

My new laptop was unable to connect to the printer on my XP desktop although I could see the printer I wanted to connect to. It just kept saying can’t connect. Your instructions worked perfectly on my windows 7 x64 laptop – XP desktop.

Thank you so much for your help. When I did this with a windows 7 x32 laptop it connected easily without any of the above problems. Something to do with the x64 platform?

I have spent more hours than I want to recall trying to do what I did here in less than 2 minutes thanks to Aseem’s wonderfully laid out directions. I have a Epson Stylus R200 Photo that I wanted to use to print from a new Win 7 laptop and was about ready to go invest in something to make it happen when I decided to try one more google search. I came up with Aseem’s article right off the bat and tried it as he has it laid out.

There you go, printing from my Win 7 laptop to an XP system and printer than has no released driver. I love it!

Your step by step instructions are wonderful but I, too, have come to the step where I can see my XP computer which contains my printer but when I try to view it it asks me for my network user name and password. I have tried every combination of user names (from my router) but can not figure out where and how this came from.

I even turned off the password in security from Windows 7 computer, but this didn't help. I do not have a password for my router either.

How do I disable this screen or actually find where this name and password exists?

Great description of the steps involved. I followed everything to Step 6 where I entered the port name and I clicked "OK." I, then, got a small window titled "Server Port" with the message, "Not enough server storage is available to process this command." I read through every other comment but did not find anyone else with this problem. Can you tell me how to increase the "server storage"?

I placed a comment yesterday concerning step 6 and a message I received concerning "Not enough server storage."

I did some research on that and found some info concerning a registry key that might need to be modified. When I checked my reg I found the key missing. I backed up the reg and then edited it to include this key – IRPStackSize DWORD 0x0000000f (15) which is supposed to be the default size. Their suggestion was to increase the parameter. I just made the the key as is and all has worked fine. I printed a test page fine.

Thanks again for your help. You have a very interesting blog that I now plan to follow.

Thank you, this worked fine for me at first. However, a week later when I went to print from my laptop using Windows 7, it showed the printer offline and it would not allow me to just "connect." I tried to fix by rebooting the wireless router and the printer but this did not work. Then, I uninstalled printer and re-installed. The laptop shows the printer as "ready," but I still cannot print anything. The Laptop states "sent to printer" but it stays in the queue as an error.

Please don't take this off the air. I just now followed your concise directions and was finally able to print from my new laptop connected to my desktop via wireless DSL. After a full year, it is still helping us amateurs.

Thank you for your useful website article about printer sharing. My system is XP (connected ethernet) via local network to Windows 7 (64 bit) laptop. About a month ago, I carried out your instructions to the letter. Everything worked superbly including the Windows Printer Test Page. All the 'Properties' etc, including ink levels appeared installed in Win 7, exactly as though the laptop were the host computer and the printer (Epson Stylus CX 3600) had been installed from disk!

The installation has since been unused until now. Upon trying to re-use, all of the 'Properties' facilities have disappeared, including ink levels etc. All I have left is a basic ability to print.

Incredible. I have been trying to get my printer working for 2 days. Although I could see it through the network and install it on the Win 7 PC, the network would not allow the printer to print.

I had done most of what you say and it hadn't worked. What was different about your instructions? The only difference was the printer name. It had been Kodak 5300 AiO. On seeing your words about the name, I shortened it to Kodak and it worked.

If you can't see your XP computer listed under the Network Tab, change the setting on the Windows 7 computer from "Allow Windows to manage homegroup connections (recommended)" to "Use user accounts and passwords to connect to other computers". This should let your Windows 7 computer see all the computers on your home network regardless of the operating system.

I think I discovered why some folks may not be successful and others are. When installing a printer on a Windows 7 computer, and you reach the prompt that states, "Share this printer with other computers?" click NO. I was having trouble getting the Windows 7 computer to work through my Windows XP computer until I clicked "NO" to sharing. Now it works great, but this was not detailed in the instructions at the end.

I have tried this and it does not work for me. Is it because I'm running Windows XP Professional – 32 bit and Windows 7 – 64 bit? And the two versions do not play nice together, especially with one being 32-bit and the other being 64-bit.

Your tip worked superbly for connecting a printer from a Windows XP machine to a Windows 7 machine (32-bit), but it still doesn't work for connecting to Windows 7 (64-bit). It keeps saying that it can't install the driver with an 0x08000FFFF error (even after cleaning register, etc., etc.).

I followed your instructions. However it did not work. When I tried to connect to the printer, it gave me a message "no driver found on network." I, then, followed the instructions at the end. When I tried to download the current driver for Canon i560 from Canon.com, it gave me a file with .exe extension, not a driver file. I executed the .exe file. I was still not able to print to the XP printer.

This seems like it is heading me in the right direction, yet, I am not there yet. I have a case where I bought a new computer that is Windows 7 Pro and I have downloaded the XP mode. I have an older plotter (HP 600) that is not able to run in Windows 7, but I was able to download it into XP mode. Now, I need the Windows 7 program to see the XP mode plotter. Can the 2 modes be networked together and how? I have set the XP plotter to be shared, yet, when I bring up the the network on Windows 7, I can not see the XP Mode system.

Can you help me get this working? Otherwise, I have a plotter I cannot use.

Thank you so much. I've had my old laser printer connected to my Windows XP Pro machine and haven't been able to connect my 64-bit Windows 7 laptop to it over about a year and a half! This worked great. I have a driver installed on the XP machine and another one on the Windows 7 machine that I verified was working by connecting directly to the printer. Once it was no longer physically connected, all I had to do was the local port trick.

Question: My printer, Epson RX500, is connected directly via USB to a PC running XP Pro SP3. I have a home network and a second XP PC that is able to print wirelessly to the Epson. I have purchased a laptop running Win 7 64-bit. When I do the "add a printer" process, it sees the printer via the wireless network.

But now the problem. The RX500 is an older all-in-one and Epson does not provide a Win 7 driver for it. When I connect the printer directly to the laptop, it automatically installs a driver and the printer works. I have looked through all the drivers in the Driver Store repository, but, apparently, Win 7 renames drivers with cryptic file names. I see three drivers with things like "prn" in the file name. How do I find out which driver Win 7 used when the printer was connected directly to the laptop, and would that same driver work for printing wirelessly? I read one internet post that said the driver name has to be the same on both the PC and the laptop? Is that correct?

Just bought a Windows 7 laptop & I’ve been struggling to get this new machine connected to my home network consisting primarily of a desktop running Windows XP. My HP Photosmart 7960 is physically connected to the XP machine. The process is not intuitive or well explained by Microsoft but I followed your instructions & voila, it worked! I was originally having “driver problems” as described by some of the comments but by adding the HP 7960 as a local printer to the laptop, I was able to avoid these driver problems.

I have an iR1018 connected to Windows XP SP3 32-bit and tried to solve the problem as above. But when I try to print from Windows 7 64-bit it goes through XP SP3 32-bit and comes to the printer. But then printer shows an error saying something like “change reg’d size common settings” (on the printer).

Please help because my boss will kill me since I advised to purchase a more expensive PC and now I am dead unless I resolve this issue!!! Please, please, please.

I am trying to print to a HP Photosmart C4600 that's connected to an XP desktop from a Windows 7 notebook. I am able to see the printer from the notebook; however, when I print, I get an error message saying an unknown error occurred while printing.

I had the same problem. Then, I went to the Printer manufacturer support and they emailed me with the proper way to do it. I would list it here, but we all have different printers. I followed their direction and it worked the first time.

This is very exciting to see that I may actually be able to print but I seem to have a problem with the fact that on my windows 7 laptop I cannot see the XP computer in the list of shared computers? How do I get this on the windows 7 ? Help please :)

I have 3 laptops in my office. Two are WIN xp pro and my main one is WIN 7 PRO x64. I’ve been using the WIN7 PRO x64 laptop between my office network and my home for over a year. I have an HP P2015 printer hooked to one of the WIN XP PRO laptops (via usb) which is shared on the office wired network, and I print to that shared printer and also share a backup file on it’s hard drive.

I’ve had occasional issues where I could no longer access the shared drive or printer from the WIN 7 laptop, but had no problems at all with the other WIN XP PRO laptop on the network. About a week ago I suddenly could only print one page at a time from WIN7 but I could access the shared drive.

Research said bad SPOOL file on WIN7 laptop (“thunking spooler APIS from to 64” was the error message), so I removed and reset per instructions. Now I cannot even add any printers from anywhere on my office network through any of the above ways. I can only install a wireless bluetooth printer, or install if I hook up directly via USB to the p2105 I normally share.

Attempting Step 2 will go as much as 4 or 5 hours before finally failing even with installing current drivers manually from the vendor prior to attempting. Alternative Step 6 gives me “the network name cannot be found” even though the name is correct. Even my office tech support cannot seem to fix this.

Thank you for the information. Everything worked fine but in the area #7 above where you say to install a driver I can't find my printer,even when I do the windows update. That is my problem, the driver. I have a Epson Stylus CX7800 series. On my Win 7 wireless I find the printer (from my desktop XP) I click print and it sends it to the printer, however it just won't print. When I keep checking I get a box that tells me it can't find the driver. Can you help?

I have the same problem as Tom Miller above. I have a Epson Stylus Photo RX500 printer connected to a XP computer via USB. I'm trying to remotely print to it from my new HP Win 7 laptop and it fails. I get the message "NO driver found. The file *.inf on (unknown) is needed". I tried hooking the printer up locally to the Win 7 laptop and it works fine. It's pulling drivers from c:Windowssystem32spooldriversx64*.*. The problem is that none of these drivers are ".inf" like it wants when its trying to connect remotely. So I'm stuck. Please advise.

Correction. The "add a printer" to local port instructions in this article worked. My mistake was that the first time through it did not finish up correctly so when I tried to add it again the computer said that the port already exists. What I did was change the shared drive name on the XP computer the printer is attached too. On the windows 7 wireless computer I went back and followed these instructions and, whola, the printer is now connected properly. The one thing I would add to this article is that after the "add a printer" is finished go to "control panel", then "devices and printers" and if the remote printer is not shown then the "add a printer" didn't work correctly.

Your reward if not on Earth will surely be in Heaven.I have toiled on and off for weeks with this problem and hundreds of dud web advice.All seemed to work,but didn't.Your advice worked like a charm.My XP printer was 'seen' but that was all.I neede to run through your beatifully succinct instructions.Thanks Aseem.

THANK YOU!!!! I tried different methods over several days and this one was the only one to work. I did each step as I read your instructions and when I got to the last line I was printer sharing. THANK YOU!!!THANK YOU!!!THANK YOU!!!THANK YOU!!!

I have tried everything, and then some more, to print to a Lexmark X1100 attached to a WinXP 32 bit desktop from a Win7 64 bit laptop. Everything seems to set up corectly but every time I try to print I just a get a message saying "Communication Not Available" "The printer cannot communicate with the computer". The drivers are installed properly, the Local Port is installed properly, my network sees the WinXP machine and the printer works fine when attached directly to the Win7 laptop. I've tried switching off the firewalls but makes no difference. Any ideas?

Thank you Aseem. It works for HP LaserJet 3005dn connected to XP PC. As suggested, I updated the Win7 driver. Now the Win7 Desktop and a wired Laptop Win7 machines can print to a shared pinter with XP. A suprise bonus-both Win7 machines have internet too. The XP is connected to AT&T DSL Motorola modem. The end wires of Win7 Destktop and Laptop were respectively inserted to the vacant 4 holes in the modem. Then follow your instuctions and voila.

My situation is reversed. I have a new desktop with Windows 7 and my kids laptops with Windows XP. Can't get the laptops to print off of my hp 6500 all in one through the network. Would I use the same steps as you stated or is there something different I should do? Makes it rough when the kids find something they want/need to print for school and have to go and change computers.

The printer on my desktop running windows XP Home Edition version 2002 service pack 3 is a Dell AIO printer A960. My laptop computer is a Dell running Windows 7 Home Premium 2009 ,service pack 1. I get to step 7 and insert my disc as directed. It tells me the folder I specified C:Windowssystem 32drivers does not contain a compatible driver. Also to make sure it works with Windows for x64 based systems. Any suggestions?

I did all your steps for the win7 wirless laptop to xp usb printing but got the "windows can't find the drivers". No problem when I connect usb printer to the laptop.Thank a lot for any help you can provide.

hi i tried connecting my printer from windows xp to windows 7. i see the printer name on my own system but i keep on getting the error message ” can’t connect to the printer”. i have tried all the methods but its not still working. please can you assist me. i really need your help. thanks

I have read the intruction and I will try all my best to follow it. and I will see the if it will work. but one question? The printer have to be conected in one cumputer were i will to all this steps???? because I have 3 cunmputer and I have the printer conected in one and now I want to share my printer with the other two.

Wonderful! Worked like a charm! Thank you! The counter-intuitive step that you mention was something I never thought I would select because well, like you said it was counter-intuitive. Who knew it was the trick that worked!

Had similar problem. The Win7 machine could see and ping the XP machine that had the printer connected directly to it, but the Win7 machine could never find/install the printer. I used the alternate method shown in the article, but when I used the text address to the printer (\{xpmachinename}SamsungC), I got an error message like “Network path not found.” So, I tried using the XP machine’s IP address followed by the text printer shared-name: \ 192.168.1.103SamsungC. This worked. Win7 even offered the latest driver, and the test page printed fine.

I have been at this problem for hours… and found your site.. I still can't get my XP computer showing up on the windows 7 screen. I have a Vista laptop, and it sees the XP just fine.. The windows 7 sees the Vista, but we have the printer on the XP and that 7 just won't see the XP>> The XP is hooked up wirelessly to system using wireless adapter, but its shows as hooked up as local, not wireless. What do you suggdest

Thank you, thank you, thank you! It's been so many years of running up and down stairs from one computer to another to print things out. Your instructions were clear and easy to follow and it works perfectly! Now I'll have to find another way to get my exercise;-)

I called Okidata tech support and they told me it couldn't be done, XP 32bit share, Windows 7 64bit client. Your instructions (steps 3-7) just proved them wrong. The built-in Windows 7 drivers for ML420's works fine if you connect them directly, but connecting to an XP shared one, all I could get was a long Windows Update search, followed by a prompt to find an missing INF file. Your method gets you to the driver list, just what I needed.
THANK YOU.

THANK YOU!! My husband and I have been trying to set this up for HOURS!! This was soooo much easier than what HP was directing me to do. You’d think they would just give the exact instructions you did. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!

I have a Dell AIO 942 connected to my XP machine. The printer is shared on the XP machine. I can view the printer on the windows 7 machine but I needed to manually add the printer. I have had the printer working when it is connected directly to the 7 machine I used the same driver file and I get to the “Installing printer…” screen with the green bar but I do not get any further. Any thoughts?

Thank you over and over. I have two desktop dells ( xps600 and dimension8250) running winxp with an HP Photosmart 7350 connected to the 8250 in a wired network. HP has no win7 driver for this yet so had to use the deskjet 5550 driver. connected directly to the laptop and was printing this afternoon, but for the life of me could not get it to configure to do wirelessly. IT SEEMS COUNTER INTUITIVE TO DO IT THIS WAY BUT THATS WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO was the key to my problems. This was my first negative experience with win 7 hopefully there wont be many more. thanks again

I am trying to share an “hp LaserJet 1200 series” printer from a Windows XP computer to a Windows 7 computer. I followed your steps and I get a message that says that my address is incorrect. I don’t see how it would be wrong. Please help.

Thanks bunches! If someone does not have the cd that came with the printer (like me)…just plug the printer directly into the windows 7 before you start with the instructions and the drivers will download :)

It works for a while, but I believe when I shut the computer down, then restart it, it doesn’t work any more. I have to delete the printer and add it again. I have done this multiple times thinking I have it fixed, then it does it again.

I had the same problems reported by nitishgarg (April 4, 2011) and Bryan (Jan 11, 2012). I could see the printer connected to the XP computer from my Windows 7 computer but when selecting it for connection it could not find the driver and would simply ask for the location of “.inf” file without much choice other than to cancel. I had connected the printer to the Win 7 PC directly via USB cable and it found the driver and was able to print fine. But when I tried to connect via the network it would run into the above problem.

I followed the advice of adding a local printer and it pulled up the choice of printers and drivers, when I selected mine (Lexmark 232) it of course indicated there was already a driver for that printer (from the direct cable connection). Declined to replace it (it would not matter anyway, for it would replace it with the same version of the driver) and it was then able to connect just fine. Printer working thru the network now.

I was ready to tear my hair out before using this method. The printer is on an XP desktop and I was trying to connect to a Windows 7 laptop. Using the “Add a network printer” option, the install kept failing because I supposedly didn’t have the right .inf file for the drivers? This was even after I plugged the printer directly into the laptop and was able get it working that way. By using the “add a local printer” method, specifying the port and picking the printer from the list, the correct drivers installed and now all is good! Thank you so very much for a great article. You’re a lifesaver!

I thought this was the solution, when you remarked about getting the error like “Cannot connect to printer”, because that’s what I’ve been battling. Best info I can get, is my Dell PC lacks the file winprint.dll. Microsoft says copy it off the CD . . . But Dell didn’t send a CD along with the box! I’m screwed, cause Billy Gates won’t share the file.

I did exactly as you described, and STILL get the same error. Where the heck is a copy of winprint.dll? I suckered for a couple web sites that appear in Google to offer downloads, but they are pure scams, hawking registry ‘cleaners’ that have no credibility, and probably consist of spyware. So, am I a happy camper? Spent three days on this. You’d think Microsoft would come up with a “Wizard” that asks what operating systems you have in your workgroup, and then walk the user through it. This is a thousand times more grief than it needs to be.

My machines can see each other, but I one cannot access the other. I think the culprit is my XP machine & there must be a security setting or bad registry entry somewhere that is just corrupted. I’ve even seen postings listing to change the tcp ip properties of the network connection which didn’t work either. WINDOWS SUX A** !

THANK YOU! It’s quite a pain having two different OS, but after following these steps (and a few others, bc I had some trouble along the way- the printer wasn’t found, no driver found?? – Not to worry I fixed it) I finally printed from my laptop -running W7- to the printer connected to my XP. AWESOME.

I have the same situation. I tried these instructions and they failed too. The only change I needed to make using these instructions was to give the printer being shared a name that was less than 8 characters in length. This didn’t help either. I could see the newly named printer in my laptop network sharing printer window, I clicked connect. No way could I print. I even rebooted both computers. The same original names came up on both computers, checked off enabled and the same response on the printer trays occured. Namely, a flash of the task being printed on XP computer, and then a longer response task on the laptop. The status: “spooling” is noted on the lap top, but it still doesn’t print.

Aseem, as the guy said in “Apollo 13”, “YOU ARE A STEELY-EYED MISSLE MAN.” I think that’s right. Anyway, this worked perfectly for me and it came after 2 hours of trying every different way. You’re the man! Thank You!

Great help!! It worked like a dream and made me look like the office genius. A downloaded driver from Brother, the printer needing to be shared, was worthless. The Microsoft update also did not contain my exact printer model but I successfully interpreted the driver name that went with the printer. Thanks for the info, Brother should have your page linked.

So what happens if you want to share the printer from the windows 7 computer to an xp OS, if we plug the printer into the windows 7 computer it runs too slowly. Its an old HP laserJet 5000 printer. I’m going round in circles trying to fix this downloaded a million different drivers, keeps asking for a x86 driver and needs to locate a .INF folder?

Aseem, you have helped me out of one of the most frustrating problems ever to confront me and I’m a computer geek myself. Microsoft don’t have a constructive answer and neither did my printer manufacturer but you made it look so easy. Why does Windows 7 have to complicate matters when it used to be so easy with XP? I’m 78 years old this year but I still enjoy the challenges that technology has brought to this world. Keep up the good work … Thanks!!

My new Win 7 PC, was setup like this, but then suddenly it wouldn’t print – despite the printer being there. I follow the steps you advised – as soon as I clicked the ‘Connect’ button, I looked to see if I could print – Hey presto – the printer was ‘READY’ again and now back working. Previously for a while it just said ‘OFFLINE’. Thanks for help.

i had loads of problems, including XP not showing on the Windows7 ‘View network computers & devices’ list

Eventually after i sorted that, when i tried to connect, a login screen popped and it wouldn’t accept any of the Admin account logins.

Again, eventually sorted the problem out then found that my old printer didn’t appear on the list and HP don’t offer Windows7 drivers for old printers!

Well, luckily, i clicked on that ‘Windows Update’ button in your last picture. It took a good 5 minutes, i thought it had locked up, not responding, but eventually it did come back and the list of printers was quite a bit longer, and believe it or not, they even had my 10yr – old HP Deskjet, which not even HP could help with. Well done Microsoft.

Loaded that driver and Bingo, it printed the test page at first try.

i was amazed, really pleased..

So Thanks once again, Aseem, for this very useful Blog post, which although couldn’t sort out all my problems, it gave me

a very clear framework of what had to be achieved. As i sorted out one problem then i could progress to the next stage.

I spent 3 hours trying to get the Windows 7 machine to print to the printer connected to my XP machine. I had to manually install the printer, despite the fact that windows 7 automatically added the printer as described in your article. thank you

Hi there, great writeup, thank you. However, I’m still having a problem connecting to an HP Laserjet 1320 that’s available via a Win XP client. I see the computer when I activate the Network icon, but when I double click on it, I get the message “Windows cannot access \\”, and running the Troubleshooting utility doesn’t rectify things either. What’s interesting is that I am able to connect to another XP client which also has a 1320 printer attached, and it works fine, so I’m thinking there’s something with the original XP client that needs tweaking. Any ideas?

If you have a document on Windows 7 that you want to print, and the printer is connected to an XP computer on the network:

If after step 6 in this article (above) you get a message that says the port already exists, then open devices and printers in the start menu, right click on that printer, and select remove.

If the printer associated with the port is no longer present in devices and printers, then open printmanagement.msc. (You can find it quickly by typing it in the search box in the start menu.) Look around in there and you should be able to find and delete it.

Marvellous stuff. I’ve spent a couple hours trying to resolve this issue and getting nonsense messages from my pc that the printer was not connected. Aseem, you are a real pal for putting up this info. Many many thanks!

An easier thing to do when you click on add a printer is to click on wireless or blue tooth. Input pc name along with printer name and you are done. No need to install the drivers and such. Nice post otherwise.

Hi guys! I got so excited when I found this solution BUT… For some reason, Windows 7 Home Basic does not allow sharing on networks (nevermind sharing printers). Please if you can help with some guidance, guys??? Cheers! Q

I followed all your instructions step-by-step and still cannot print from my hp laptop Windows 7 to my printer on Windows XP. The printer is HP PHOTOSMART 7760. When I try to connect to the printer from windows 7 I get an error message: NO driver found . The only driver I have is for Windows xp and my windows 7 can’t find any upgrade. Help me please.

Most Commented

Aseem Kishore

Founder of Help Desk Geek and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time.

SIGN UP FOR DAILY EMAIL NEWSLETTER

CONNECT WITH US

About Help Desk Geek

Welcome to Help Desk Geek- a blog full of help desk tips for IT Professionals. My name is Aseem Kishore and I work as a Systems Analyst in Dallas, TX. I graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, GA in 2002 with a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics.